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Introducing
Clearwater Signals
Welcome to the first issue of Clearwater Signals, a
quarterly publication focused on advanced water-treatment technology. The purpose of this newsletter is to raise
awareness about water- treatment methods, the challenges facing the
water-treatment industry, and the technological advances underway or already in
practice to improve water-treatment outcomes.
What do we mean by water-treatment outcomes? Essentially, we’re talking
about water-treatment applications that can achieve results such as the
following.
· Improved Operational Performance. Advanced water treatment should improve the
operational performance of the system to which it is applied. Good water treatment should help support
overall system performance, whether (for example) the “system” be a cooling
tower, boiler, fountain, drinking-water supply, or swimming pool.
· Economic Advantages. Advanced water treatment should be able to demonstrate
cost-savings advantages over previous, once-traditional methods and contribute
to overall system cost-effectiveness.
· Environmental Benefits. Advanced water treatment should be instrumental in resolving the environmental
issues manifested by formerly acceptable, yet now known to be potentially
harmful, technologies.
· Reduced Energy Use.
Simply put, advanced water treatment should be energy-efficient and
certainly appeal to the interest of reducing power demand.
Granted, volumes could be written on each of these issues
with respect to specific applications alone, but the point to be made here is
that advanced water treatment serves multifaceted market needs, ranging from
our economy to our health. To serve
these interdependent needs, we ask you to become involved in this publication
by submitting articles, letters, and references for inclusion in future
issues. We also intend to offer
recipients of this newsletter—current and future users of advanced water
treatment (which includes members of industry, government agencies, and
academia)—a wide variety of papers on the subject. In this way and through other media, such as our web site and its
associated links, points of contact and informational resources can be accessed
readily to assist in serving the goals just touched upon in this message.
Pulsed-Power Technology and
Recirculating Water Systems
· Basis
of a CE Expo Presentation ·
John Lane, Director of Technology at Clearwater Systems, and
David Peck, Principal Engineer of Water and Wastewater Treatment for Eichleay
Engineers & Constructors, will be making a presentation on applying
pulsed-power technology to recirculating water systems at the CE Expo in
Rosemont (suburban Chicago), Illinois, on June 13 and 14. The article on which their presentation is
based, “Using Pulsed Power on Recirculating Water Systems” (to be published in Chemical
Engineering magazine), describes the chemical-free, Dolphin pulsed-power
treatment on cooling tower water at a commercial office building in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. The facility is a new
office building and cooling system. The
driving force for the installation was to eliminate chemical handling in the
facility and the subsequent discharges via blowdown into the local, publicly
owned treatment works (POTW). This
objective also supported the overall “green building” or sustainable design
goal of the project.
· Basic
Setup and Evaluation Parameters. An 8-inch diameter pulsed-power unit was
installed on the condenser line after the chillers and prior to the cooling
tower, and a 2-inch diameter unit was installed on the make-up water line. The system has two chillers—400-ton and
200-ton units—with a full-flow, centrifugal separator prior to each of the
chillers. A conductivity meter controls
blowdown. A side-stream bag filter on
each separator filters approximately 10% of the water flow and returns it to
the circulating pump. The system is in
operation for eight months each year, from early spring to late fall. The
Dolphin pulsed-power units have been in operation through three complete
cooling systems. Biological samples were taken during each month of operation
and analyzed for Heterotrophic Plate Counts (HPC) using the EPA standard method
of analysis (SMEWW 9215) at a Pennsylvania-certified laboratory. A detailed chemical analysis of the
recirculating water was conducted during the second and third years of
operation.
· Pivotal
Data Points. Biological data for the pulsed-power treated system reveal an
exceptionally well-maintained cooling loop.
The highest HPC measurement of 2,600 CFU/ml was made on the system
immediately after the new system was flushed and cleaned, before it began to
operate. All values since then have
been lower. The Cooling Technology Institute (CTI) target value for
recirculating water is less than 10,000 CFU/ml. After the initial start-up, the highest HPC value was only 25% of
the CTI target value. During both test periods, the HPC was 1,000 CFU/ml.
· Operational
Results. For the entire three years of operation under potential scaling
conditions, no adherent scale was formed.
Chiller efficiency is continually monitored and has shown no measurable
degradation of heat-transfer properties.
The tower has remained free of slime (biofilm) on all wetted
surfaces. There has been no odor
associated with the system, and the water is exceptionally clear.
Application of the Dolphin Pulsed-Power Unit
Schick
Facility Uses a Chemical-Free Technology
To Manage
Cooling Tower Water Treatment
· Summary
of a Pollution Prevention Case Study by the Connecticut DEP ·
The Schick facility in Milford, Connecticut, now operates
all its cooling towers without the use of conditioning chemicals. This transfer of technology—from chemical
treatment to electrical pulsed-power treatment—has led to improved
profitability, a cleaner environment, and a safer workplace. Schick—a division of Warner-Lambert, which
is now part of Pfizer—is a provider of health care and consumer products. The plant comprises about 435,000 square
feet and employs about 900 workers. It
operates virtually 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
· Background. A common practice at industrial facilities
throughout the nation includes the use of various chemicals on cooling tower
systems to control scale deposits, biological growth (i.e., slime), corrosion,
and fouling. These chemically treated
systems have to be inspected routinely, with water samples taken for
analysis. This process is costly,
time-consuming, and subject to regulatory oversight. For example, with the former chemically controlled systems at
Schick, Jim Fitzpatrick (Senior Project Engineer) estimated what the division
was spending per ton of cooling in its plant (a ton of cooling equals 12,000
BTUs per hour). Costs included initial
equipment purchase, chemicals, water, discharge permits, discharge monitoring,
employee time to maintain the system, employee training (environmental and
OSHA), chemical dosing systems (pumps, piping, etc.), and repairs. Pumps and other chemical dosing equipment
occasionally broke down and needed to be repaired. Wastewater discharged from the cooling towers had to be sampled
and analyzed. If the results indicated
that permit limits were exceeded, the company would likely be subject to fines
or other enforcement actions.
· The
Challenge. Schick wanted to minimize
or eliminate the use of chemicals in its cooling tower systems. The goal was to reduce impediments such as
the following: chemical costs, maintenance requirements, employee exposure to
harsh chemicals, potential company liabilities, and exposure to regulatory
action. Schick selected a
Connecticut-based vendor to supply, install, and provide support for the new
water-conditioning unit in a cooling tower. The unit consists of two main
components: a transformer panel (the “brains”) and a coil-pipe assembly (the
“muscle”). The transformer panel brings
the line voltage down to the coil operating voltage (about 35 volts). The coil-pipe assembly contains an
unobstructed replacement pipe spool, coils, and electronic circuitry. Installation consisted of replacing a length
of the 6-inch diameter recirculating pipe with the coil-pipe assembly and
connecting the transformer to a 120 volt/15 ampere line.
· Results. The results were favorable from a number of
scientific, engineering, environmental, and economic perspectives. (Test results are shown in the table at the
end of this article.) Employees were pleased with the new system, since it
eliminates the need to work with several strong chemicals and the need for personal
protective equipment. For this first
unit alone, the financial analysis calculated a payback of less than one
year.
Schick has since installed similar units on all of its
cooling tower systems, including retrofitting existing, problematic
systems. All cooling systems are
operating smoothly with the electrical, pulsed-power water treatment
units. Schick has also installed these
units on all of its boilers, thereby totally eliminating the use of all
water-conditioning chemicals. The
company reports that a boiler inspection showed clean tubes and completely
satisfied the insurance company, which has strict requirements for boiler
upkeep.
Test
Results Under Pulsed-Power Cooling Tower Water Treatment at Schick
|
|
|
PH |
Started at 7.37; slowly rose to 8.61. Easily controlled through
rate of blowdown. |
|
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) |
Maintained between 183 to 829 ppm. Also controlled through
blowdown rate. |
|
Total Bacteria Counts (TBC) |
Maintained between 1 to 17,000 CFU/mL (as compared to
chemically treated towers, which had counts between 30,000 and 100,000 CFU/mL
over the same time period). |
|
Observations |
No odors, algae, and water appeared clear from the 1994
installation through the spring of 1999. |
|
Water Consumption |
Decreased as a result of decreased blowdown. |
New JCAHO Standards & Organizational-Acquired Illness
Calls
for Reducing the Potential for Organizational-Acquired Illness
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
(JCAHO) Utility Systems Management Standard EC.1.9 now describes and affects
how JCAHO will establish and maintain a utility systems management program to
reduce the potential for organizational-acquired illness. The new plan also describes processes for
managing pathogenic biological agents in cooling towers, domestic hot water,
and other aerosolizing water systems.
OSHA considers cooling towers a possible source of Legionnaires’
disease. The American Society of
Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and the Cooling
Technology Institute (CTI) have published guidelines to minimize the risk of
Legionnaires’ disease from cooling towers.
Almost 90% of Legionnaires’ disease cases have been due to
an infection by Legionella pneumophila
(LP). Cooling towers often operate at the ideal temperature for LP (77o
F to 108o F) and therefore are a constant concern for
amplification. The attributes often
found in cooling towers that are implicated in LP amplification are: stagnant
water (dead-end pipes) and extended shutdowns, scale and sediment, poor
biological control, biofilm or slime layer, and amoeba and ciliated
protozoa. CTI has published the
following recommended target values for routine treatment of cooling systems. Traditional “chemically controlled” cooling
towers do not meet these limits.
Parameter
|
Biological Counts |
Microscopic Exam |
|
Planktonic Counts (Bulk Water) |
<10,000 CFU/ml |
No higher life forms. |
|
Sessile Counts (Surfaces) |
<100,000 CFU/cm2 |
No higher life forms. |
|
Deposits |
Not applicable. |
No higher life forms. |
However, cooling towers equipped with Dolphin pulsed-power
technology typically run at biological counts of 1,000-to-2,000 CFU/ml with little
to no biofilm (sessile counts) and no higher life forms visible under
microscopic examination. Per CTI Legionella
Guidelines, such results are "a good indication of a well maintained
system with low risks to health."
These limits are believed to be the best method to control LP
amplification because they directly eliminate the ecosystem that is necessary
for LP to thrive.
The Evolution of Chemical-Free Water Treatment: From Black
Magic to Black Ink
Just mention non-chemical water treatment to some people
familiar with water systems, and the response you will likely evoke is, “Black
Magic,” “Hocus Pocus,” or “Smoke and Mirrors.”
Why has the science behind the electric effects on water, as opposed to
so many other applications, languished as a curiosity for several decades? The science and the commercial interests
regarding water treatment have been separated by a wide gulf of distrust and
confusion, leading to fuzzy and sometimes ridiculous explanations of the solid
research and workings behind non-chemical water treatment.
We at Clearwater Systems are committed to providing our
customer base, and the commercial public at large, with complete and scientifically
rigorous explanation and documentation of electric water treatment. In fact, this approach has served as the
basis behind the hundreds of our chemical-free water treatment applications on
cooling towers and steam boilers today.
The major principles of non-chemical water treatment are
grounded in classic physics and have been well established for over 100 years,
while some of the collateral beneficial effects (microbial and biofilm control)
are more recent discoveries. The
potential full power of electromagnetic waves in fluid treatment is now just
now becoming appreciated. Therefore, we
are continuing to support our commercial activities at Clearwater with a high
level of research, both fundamental and applied.
Clearwater Signals will be one important vehicle for
disseminating this “old and new” information.
In future editions we will provide you with our latest news on mineral
scaling, microbial control, and corrosion in HVAC and industrial water
treatment, as well as up-to-the-minute work on new applications for this
remarkable technology. We are confident
that our already proven, progressive advancements in the industry will bring
this former scientific curiosity into the commercial mainstream for improved
water treatment, and with sufficient reason.
There is much good to gain.
Faraday’s Law: An Underlying Principle Behind Pulsed-Power
Technology
“The world little knows how many of the thoughts and
theories which have passed through the mind of the scientific investigator have
been crushed in silence and secrecy by his own severe criticism and adverse
examination; that in the most successful of instances not a tenth of the
suggestions, the hopes, the wishes, the preliminary conclusions have been
realized.”
--Michael Faraday, British
Physicist (1791-1867)
Just how does Faraday’s
Law relate to pulsed-power technology and advanced, chemical-free water
treatment?
· Essence
of the Relationship. Pulsed-power
technology uses a time-varying and pulsed longitudinal magnetic field, which
induces a circumferential electric field of specific resonance frequencies. A
time- varying magnetic field will induce an electric field in the water flowing
through a pipe, based on the physics principle of Faraday’s Law, as depicted
below. This figure shows the terminals
of a wire loop connected to a current meter.
The meter registers a current (i.e., electric field) in the wire loop
when the magnet is moving with respect to the loop. Under pulsed-power technology, the “wire loop” is water, and the
electric field changes the surface charge on very small particles in the water,
thus activating them as sites for nucleation of mineral precipitation.
Other Notes of Interest:
Faraday—Art Collector, Wordsmith, and the Electric Guitar
·
Art
Collector. Faraday was an enthusiastic collector of engravings,
lithographs, and photographs. He also
served as an advisor to the British Museum, National Gallery, and Westminster
Abbey on the preservation of sculpture and architecture.
· Wordsmith. Shortly after his work on electromagnetic
induction, Faraday showed that the five kinds of electricity then
distinguished—frictional, galvanic, voltaic, magnetic (induced current), and
thermal—were fundamentally the same. In
the same period he arrived at the basic laws of electrolysis bearing his name
and introduced terms that are now universally used: “anode,” “cathode,” anion,”
“cation,” and “electrode.”
· The
Electric Guitar. Jimi Hendrix
first understood the electric guitar as an electronic instrument. He exploded
on the music scene in the 1960s, positioning himself and his guitar in front of
a speaker to sustain feedback, and then laying down chords on top of the
feedback. Based on Faraday’s Law,
Hendrix understood that the oscillations of the metal strings on the electric
guitar are sensed by electric “pickups” that send signals to an amplifier and
set of speakers. (When the metal string
is made to oscillate, the variation in magnetic flux induces an electric
current in the coil.) To gain further control over his music, Hendrix sometimes
rewrapped the wire in the pickup coils of his guitar to change the number of
turns.
UPCOMING·Conferences · Seminars · Trade Shows · Expositions ·UPCOMING |
||
|
Event |
Date & Location |
Points of Contact |
|
Water Quality Association 2001 Convention & Exhibition. Showcase for WQA’s 2,500 member companies.
Concurrent Commercial/Industrial Seminar will concentrate on technologies,
issues, problem solving, and system design. |
March 27-31, 2001 Orange County Convention Center Orlando, Florida |
Jeanne Collins WQA 2001 Convention & Exhibition Naperville Road Lisle, IL 605321 Questions: 630-505-0160 Fax: 630-505-9637 |
|
Chemical Engineering Exposition & Conference. The
conference focuses on technical management issues, new process technologies, and
intelligent systems. Features include an exhibit of 300 booths presenting new
products and services. |
June 13-14, 2001 Donald E. Stephens Convention Center Rosemont, Illinois (Greater Chicago area) |
Kay Dendy Exhibit Manager Chemical
Engineering
Questions: 212-621-4627 |
|
Association of Water Technologies Exposition. AWT’s annual convention and exposition. |
October 9-11, 2001 Wyndham Anatole Hotel Dallas, Texas |
Association of Water Technologies 8201 Greensboro Drive, Suite 300 McLean, VA 22102 Questions: 703-610-9012 |
|
International Water Conference. A
technical forum for advances in the areas of industrial, utility, and wastewater
technology. Features include a technical program, exhibit hall, and
information-sharing suites. |
October 21-25, 2001 Westin William Penn Hotel Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
Engineers’ Society: Western Pennsylvania 337 Fourth Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15222 Questions: 412-261-0710 Fax: 412-261-1606 |
|
American Society of Plumbing Engineers Convention and
Technical Symposium. The ASPE
disseminates technical data to expand the base of knowledge of the plumbing
engineering industry. |
November 1-4, 2001 St. Louis, MO |
American Society of Plumbing Engineers 8614 Catalpa Avenue, Suite 1007 Chicago, IL 60656-1116 Questions: 773-693-2773 Fax: 773-695-9007 |